ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT The Philippine lies along the Pacific ring of fire which is the most active earthquake zone. Several earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur due to a continuous series of oceanic trenches, plate movements, volcanic arcs and belts. Currently, civil engineering community including private and government sectors are joining forces to prepare before the “Big One”. One strategy is to investigate and assess the integrity of structures to strengthen old and weakened structures and to address the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings. In this paper, a case study on an expansion of a two-storey 46-year old school building in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines is investigated. The school expansion includes an addition of 3rd floor level to the existing structure. Structural analysis and design was done in identifying the most critical column in the ground floor. This column was designed for retrofit using – concrete jacketing and ferrocement composites. Concrete jacketing increases the dimensions of the existing columns using fastened deformed bars as additional longitudinal bars and steel ties with concrete cover. On the other hand, Ferrocement composites uses wire mesh reinforcement fastened to an existing column with lightweight concrete. Comparative life-cycle assessment of the two methods using SimaPro was done for the critical column on a cradle-to-gate condition. Results showed that Ferrocement composites was effective in replacing concrete jacketing in terms of strength and was more environmentally friendly.
